Permanent Collection

Pieter Aertsen (Dutch, c. 1507 – 1575)

The Parable of the Marriage Feast

Pieter Aertsen, born and trained in Amsterdam, spent much of his career working in Antwerp. Many of his large-scale religious scenes were destroyed during the Beeldenstorm of 1566, a period of political and religious upheaval throughout Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The Parable of the Marriage Feast, a rare surviving work, depicts the entire parable as outlined in Matthew (22:1-14). A king invited his subjects to celebrate the wedding of his son. When none arrived, the king commanded his servants to collect both bad and good so the celebration could commence. However, the king noticed one among the crowd not dressed for the occasion and had him banished. The parable ends with the words, “many are called, but few are chosen.”